Amber Crump, 9, holds up one of her food drive baskets in front of the Pizza Hut in Goldsboro Thursday, Dec. 20after dropping off nearly 5,000 pounds worth of non-perishable food for the radio station's ‘Feed it to Bieber’ contest. Amber won tickets and backstage passes to meet Justin Bieber at his Jan. 19 concert at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Submitted photo

By Amanda Wilcox, Daily News Staff

Published: Monday, December 24, 2012 at 11:01 AM.

Nearly 5,000 pounds of food is enough to help a 9-year-old Swansboro girl meet Justin Bieber.

Amber Crump collected 4,897 pounds of food for Bob 93.3’s “Feed it to Beiber” contest thanks to overwhelming support from the community over the past few weeks. The contest rules specified that whoever collected the most non-perishable food items by weight to donate to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina would get tickets and backstage passes to Justin Bieber’s Jan. 19 concert at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Amber ended up winning the contest by donating enough food to make 4,123 meals for needy families this holiday season.

When The Daily News spoke to the family before the winner was announced on Friday, Amber said she would be happy if she won, but wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t.

“It’s a win-win situation because you’re feeding other families over the holiday break,” Amber said. “And it felt really good to donate all the food.”

Amber’s mother, Leslie Haut, said Amber started crying “happy tears” when Bob 93.3 called to tell her they’d won.

“She was crying and she was just speechless,” Haut said. “She’s so excited.”

Nearly 5,000 pounds of food is enough to help a 9-year-old Swansboro girl meet Justin Bieber.

Amber Crump collected 4,897 pounds of food for Bob 93.3’s “Feed it to Beiber” contest thanks to overwhelming support from the community over the past few weeks. The contest rules specified that whoever collected the most non-perishable food items by weight to donate to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina would get tickets and backstage passes to Justin Bieber’s Jan. 19 concert at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Amber ended up winning the contest by donating enough food to make 4,123 meals for needy families this holiday season.

When The Daily News spoke to the family before the winner was announced on Friday, Amber said she would be happy if she won, but wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t.

“It’s a win-win situation because you’re feeding other families over the holiday break,” Amber said. “And it felt really good to donate all the food.”

Amber’s mother, Leslie Haut, said Amber started crying “happy tears” when Bob 93.3 called to tell her they’d won.

“She was crying and she was just speechless,” Haut said. “She’s so excited.”

Amber was still a bit speechless when she spoke to The Daily News after hearing the news but said she was really excited to go to the concert.

Amber had 10 drop-off locations set up in Jacksonville, Emerald Isle, Swansboro, Hubert, Morehead City, Havelock and Cedar Point where community members were able to donate food. Amber received a $1,000 donation from the Swansboro Yacht Club to buy food plus another $200 from Swansboro Ice House.

“We’re just really proud of our community and how well they pulled through,” Haut said, adding that the truly important thing was that they were able to feed so many families.

Contact Daily News Military Reporter Amanda Wilcox at 910-219-8453 or amanda.wilcox@jdnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AWilcox21.